By Guardian Correspondent , The Guardian
AN increased number of local and foreign tourists from 2021 to 2023 resulted in a 36 percent revenue surge, the National Assembly heard yesterday.
Angellah Kairuki, the Natural Resources and Tourism minister, made this remark when tabling budget estimates for fiscal 2024/2025, asserting that the number of foreign tourists largely doubled from 922,692 in 2021 to 1,808,205 last year.
Local visitors to conservation areas more than doubled from 788,933 tourists in 2021 to 1,985,707 in the past year, while revenues from the tourism subsector rose to $3.4bn in 2023 from $2.5bn a year earlier.
Collected earnings from foreign visitors increased by 161 percent from $1.3bn in 2021 to $3.4bn in 2023, while domestic tourism activities resulted in 175.3bn/- earnings, a ‘triple jump’ from 46.3bn/- recorded in 2021.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s efforts in marketing the country’s tourist attractions with ‘The Royal Tour’ film played a major role in these successes, she said, pointing out that the film resulted in an increased number of foreign visitors by 24.3 percent from 1.4m in 2022 to 1.8m in 2023.
Tanzania was ranked 12th in Africa in ‘best performing destinations’ from January to December 2023 compiled by global tourism agencies, with a sharp increase in visitations compared to the 2019 to 2022o period, she stated.
In the January 2024 data cited as World Tourism Barometer, compiled by UN Tourism, Tanzania was ranked 5th in Africa in attracting a good number of foreign tourists.
The Special Wildlife Investment Concession Areas (SWICA) project was rolled out at the start of the year, with $2,773,000 (7.1bn/-) collected from fees charged on allocated blocks, the minister noted.
SWICA project revenues are expected to reach $312m in 20 years, eon the basis of a $15.5mi annual projections, she said, highlighting measures to find solutions to wildlife invasions in different parts of the country.
The government has trained an additional 437 game rangers and 184 village game scouts (VGS) during fiscal 2023/2024, with the VGS conducting patrols to restrict elephants and other destructive animals from invading farms and settlements in 73 districts countrywide.
The government harvested 113 wild animals, among them 18 buffalos, 23 elephants, 28 hippos, 21 crocodiles, three lions, nine hyenas, one leopard and ten monkeys as part of measures to reduce such invasions, she said.
The ministry had also purchased 16 drones and 100 global positioning system satellite collars to track movements of wild animals, especially elephants. Plans are also afoot to purchase 35,000 cold bombs (non-lethal hand grenades) for chasing away elephants and other fierce animals, she said.
Upwards of 45.14bn/- has been allocated for buying two helicopters for the same purpose, the minister indicated, noting that from July 2023 to May 2024, a total of 2.4bn/- was paid as compensation to 10,552 villagers affected by wild animals in 48 districts.
Current plans focus on implementing the 2022-2026 strategy to restore wildlife corridors, crucial to curb wildlife invasions, where until August 2023 eight out of 20 priority corridors had been partly restored, one corridor slated for gazetting soon, she further noted.
Voluntarily relocation from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) to Msomera in Handeni District, Saunyi in Kilindi, Kitwai in Simanjiro and other areas was being pursued, with 286.68bn/-issued up to the end of April to facilitate the exercise.
During the next financial year, a total of 968.8bn/- is expected to be collected from ministerial agencies and departments, where it will spend 348.1bn/- for the whole year, all requirements included.
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